This announcement is for current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions (status candidates) in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
As a Legal Administrative Specialist (Case Manager), you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for providing a range of legal and administrative support services to attorneys handling criminal matters. Duties will include (but are not limited to):
Serving as the primary support specialist responsible for managing incoming and outgoing discovery in criminal matters, including by coordinating with agency partners to collect materials, reviewing incoming materials to assess responsiveness, organizing complex and voluminous materials for efficient review by the case team, preparing materials for production, and maintaining detailed indices of materials received and produced.
Analyzing and summarizing evidentiary materials, including witness statements and documentary records, drawing upon knowledge of the legal and factual issues in the Government's case.
Assisting attorneys with hearing and trial preparation, and during live court proceedings, including by maintaining witness lists and schedules, drafting subpoenas, assembling and managing exhibits, and operating trial presentation software in the courtroom.
Conducting legal and factual research in support of criminal cases and drafting a variety of legal documents such as discovery requests and routine motions, proposed orders, and notices.
Providing administrative support for criminal cases, including tracking case deadlines and court appearances, maintaining case files, and entering information into case management software.
Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.
You must successfully pass a security/background investigation and a drug screening.
You must be a current permanent Department of Justice employee with competitive status or a CTAP/RPL eligible candidate.
You must meet all applicable time-in-grade requirements by the closing of this announcement.
Financial Disclosure: If selected, you may be required to disclose financial information in accordance with DOJ and Federal ethics guidelines.
Qualifications
To qualify for the position of Legal Administrative Specialist, at GS-0901-9, you must meet the qualification requirements listed below.
There may also be a positive education requirement for some occupations, please see the Education section for details. If there are licensing or certification requirements, please see the Required Documents section for details on how to verify you license or certificate.
GS-9: To be qualified at the GS-9 grade level you must meet at least one of the following conditions below. Specialized Experience: At least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in Federal service. Specialized experience is defined asperforming the following types of duties:
Working in a legal environment providing technical assistance and a range of case support to attorneys on preparing, organizing, indexing, and managing discovery, exhibits, and other case-related materials; reviewing litigation support requirements to recommend appropriate strategies to meet litigation needs; preparing legal documents such as pleadings, subpoenas, motions and proposed orders, discovery correspondence, and trial-related documents; using litigation support technology such as Trial Director, CaseMap, Relativity, or similar programs to organize case information for efficient retrieval and review, or to prepare computerized trial presentations; reviewing and summarizing documentary and other evidence to facilitate case development; and providing in-courtroom support during legal proceedings, including by operating trial presentation software and managing exhibits.
-OR- Education: Education in a related field: a J.D. or LL.B; OR a Master's or equivalent graduate degree or higher (in a related field, e.g. Law, Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration); OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. -OR- Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of specialized experience and graduate education which when combined equal 100% of the requirements. (Only graduate education in excess of 1 full year is creditable.)
You MUST meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade, by 02/17/2026 of this announcement.
Your resume must support your responses to the application questionnaire and the qualification requirements. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating.See the Required Documents section for important notes about what must be included in your resume.
Education
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements, please see the statements below.
Education must be reviewed and certified by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, in order for it to be creditable towards your qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from accredited institution.
FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website. If you are qualifying on foreign education, you MUST submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. All documentation must be in English or include an English translation.
Additional information
Additional selections may be made from this announcement.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution. Candidates will not be hired based on their race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.
EEO Statement/Policy: The United States government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor.
DOJ Reasonable Accommodation Policy: Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. The DOJ Reasonable Accommodation policy can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/jmd/reasonable-accommodation#policy
Selective Service: If you were born male, on or after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Additional information is found at: www.sss.gov.
Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs: The Fair Chance Act prohibits Federal agencies from requesting an applicant's criminal history information before the agency makes a conditional offer of employment. If you believe a DOJ employee or Federal contractor acting on its behalf has violated your rights under this Act, you may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the date of the alleged non-compliance directly to
Note: In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201(b) certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance Act.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Once the announcement closes, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted by the HR Specialist. This information will be compared against your responses to the application questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position. If a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.
Additionally, you must meet the area of consideration (see above). Applicants who do not meet this are ineligible for consideration.
Basis of Rating: DOJ's Merit Promotion Procedures will be used to evaluate candidates.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, and other characteristics):
Attention to Detail
Customer Service
Decision Making
Flexibility
Integrity/Honesty
Interpersonal Skills
Learning
Reading Comprehension
Reasoning
Self-Management
Stress Tolerance
Teamwork
Due Weight for Performance: Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. Due weight for performance applies to federal and non-federal work.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of required documents below and submit the necessary documentation based on your eligibility.
Resume - All Applicants: You must submit a resume (a two page or less resume is required) containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:
Official position title,
Employer name and contact information,
Start and end dates (including month and year),
Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
A list of duties performed and accomplishments.
SF-50: You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action). Do not submit an award SF-50, these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.
Most recent performance appraisal: Must submit a signed copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available.
Awards: Submit a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available.
CTAP eligibility documentation:
A copy of your RIF separation notice; notice of proposed removal for declining a directed geographic relocation outside of the local commuting area; a Certificate of Expected Separation ; or certification that you are in a surplus organization or occupation (this could be a position abolishment letter, or a notice of eligibility for discontinued service retirement).
A copy of your most recent performance appraisal and SF-50 "Notification of Personnel Action" noting current position, grade/band level, promotion potential, and duty location.
College Transcripts: If you are using education to qualify for this position, or education is required.
you must submit a transcript, which may be unofficial, as long as it contains a full listing of courses, credit earned, grade and grade-point-average, subject area, degree(s) earned, and dates of award. Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcripts will be required prior to your first day.
Your transcript must come from a nationally accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection, these may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation. Your complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 02/17/2026 to receive consideration.
Click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.
NEED HELP?
If you need help with USAJOBs or the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help or Application Manager Online Help websites which includes information on managing your account, creating an application, uploading documents, etc.
Reasonable Accommodation: To request reasonable acommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact DeShawn Gordon at deshawn.gordon@usdoj.gov or 859-685-4845 for assistance.
Eastern District of Kentucky
260 West Vine Street
Lexington, KY 40507
US
Next steps
You will receive e-mail notifications as your application status is updated by DOJ. However, you can also see your application status any time by logging in to your USAJOBS account and looking on the "Applications" page. Click the position title to expand the display for each application in the list.
We strive to extend a final offer of employment within 90 days from the close of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement within 90 days.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of required documents below and submit the necessary documentation based on your eligibility.
Resume - All Applicants: You must submit a resume (a two page or less resume is required) containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:
Official position title,
Employer name and contact information,
Start and end dates (including month and year),
Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
A list of duties performed and accomplishments.
SF-50: You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action). Do not submit an award SF-50, these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.
Most recent performance appraisal: Must submit a signed copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available.
Awards: Submit a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available.
CTAP eligibility documentation:
A copy of your RIF separation notice; notice of proposed removal for declining a directed geographic relocation outside of the local commuting area; a Certificate of Expected Separation ; or certification that you are in a surplus organization or occupation (this could be a position abolishment letter, or a notice of eligibility for discontinued service retirement).
A copy of your most recent performance appraisal and SF-50 "Notification of Personnel Action" noting current position, grade/band level, promotion potential, and duty location.
College Transcripts: If you are using education to qualify for this position, or education is required.
you must submit a transcript, which may be unofficial, as long as it contains a full listing of courses, credit earned, grade and grade-point-average, subject area, degree(s) earned, and dates of award. Note: If you are selected for this position, official transcripts will be required prior to your first day.
Your transcript must come from a nationally accredited educational institution recognized by the Department of Education.
Please do not submit electronic transcripts with documentation security protection, these may prevent our application system from accepting and processing the document.
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation. Your complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 02/17/2026 to receive consideration.
Click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.
NEED HELP?
If you need help with USAJOBs or the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help or Application Manager Online Help websites which includes information on managing your account, creating an application, uploading documents, etc.
Reasonable Accommodation: To request reasonable acommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please contact DeShawn Gordon at deshawn.gordon@usdoj.gov or 859-685-4845 for assistance.
Eastern District of Kentucky
260 West Vine Street
Lexington, KY 40507
US
Next steps
You will receive e-mail notifications as your application status is updated by DOJ. However, you can also see your application status any time by logging in to your USAJOBS account and looking on the "Applications" page. Click the position title to expand the display for each application in the list.
We strive to extend a final offer of employment within 90 days from the close of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement within 90 days.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.